The Superintendent's Roles and Responsibilities in the Budget Process

Superintendent’s Roles and Responsibilities in the Budgeting Process

The superintendent of schools should play a major role in the development of the district budget.  According to law he is the budget officer for the district and prepares or causes the budget to be prepared.  Ethically, he should be the leader in fiscal responsibility setting the tone for establishing a budget.  In interviewing the Director of Finance at Livingston Independent School District I learned that our superintendent definitely sets the tone in this process.  He defines the roles and responsibilities of the people and events throughout the process.  He oversees the planning stage of the budget with our Board of Trustees and Business Department in setting a timeline in conjunction with the school calendar.  The business department takes all the departments and campus budgets and works them in to the district budget.  The Superintendent along with the Deputy Superintendents and Director of Finance takes the prepared budget and goes over it.  This group then meets with the department heads and directors to justify the needs presented in the budget.  Then the superintendent takes the prepared budget to the Board of Trustees for evaluation in budget workshops.  Because of his hands on approach the superintendent is then able to explain and justify to the board the authorized budgeted items.  Finally, a public hearing is held and formal adoption of the budget takes place.  Our superintendent is actively involved in the budget process from start to finish. 

I was not surprised to learn that the superintendent was so involved in the budget process.  With all the law suits and budget cuts in Texas Education today, it is critical for the superintendent to know and understand the budget.  I also remember in one of the interviews I gave the superintendent his answer for a primary role of his, was to understand the budget and have fiscal responsibility.  Our superintendent knows how important it is to be able to defend to the Board of Trustees and to the public where the districts money is going.  There is no better way to do that than to know the budget like the back of your hand; and that is done by having a constant and active involvement in the process.